


Works from Wednesday

by ShinjiShazaki



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Writing Wednesday
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-09-26
Updated: 2011-10-13
Packaged: 2017-10-24 01:53:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 8,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/257570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinjiShazaki/pseuds/ShinjiShazaki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which I answer prompts given to me on my tumblr for Writing Wednesday.  Various pairings, situations, and levels of cheer and grimness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A lack of speaking

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Rose + Kanaya 'I don't want to talk'

If there was only one thing to be learned about Rose Lalonde, Kanaya Maryam has learned that it is this: never ask about her life before Sburb.

It’s slightly incorrect to give such a sweeping proclamation. Every so often, usually in the dead of night when Rose is curled up in bed and holding Kanaya’s arms to her, she’d volunteer a piece of information about how she spent her winters, or how she did her childish best to psychologically analyze her cat. She can talk about her childhood, but at eighteen years old was more eager to dismiss it.

The reason behind Kanaya’s hesitance to pry any further than that was how Rose reacted when Kanaya spoke of her own lusus and told a few stories about the virgin mother grub. Her face instantly closed, no matter how diligently she smiled and nodded to show she was following the tale and listening properly. It had been so sudden, that change in her face, that Kanaya faltered in speaking. She only continued because there was honesty in Rose’s voice when she bade her continue.

Unlike many other trolls, Kanaya made a stalwart effort in learning about human culture. Seeing as how the game had dropped them back onto Earth (though politely giving them a free pass on being aliens on an alien world by making humans simply not give a fuck), she thought it was prudent. Once their first conversation about Kanaya’s lusus ended, she fell upon as many books as she could find. She searched for any word that might have been a trigger, and only found it when she thought back carefully to when Rose’s face first changed.

She remembered it was when she explained that her lusus was a virgin mother. She found the words “mother” and “virgin mother” in books, read the topics very carefully, and remembered what Jade said about how the grimdark episode had started.

The next time she saw Rose, she wrapped her arms around her and whispered, “I’m sorry,” in her hair.

Rose had hesitated, but the hug she gave in return was twice as strong.

They kissed then, and while Rose was never really able to talk about Mrs. Lalonde, she held Kanaya’s hand while she listened to her tales of her lusus. She even smiled honestly, and that made Kanaya give her another kiss.


	2. A seemingly quiet tea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: A prompt in which Rose and Jade share a seemingly quiet tea, until Jade confesses a closely guarded secret. Rose, despite her keen skill at deduction, never saw it coming.

Jade wasn’t the biggest fan of tea; she usually had a small can of soda to set on the saucer in lieu of a cup. Nevertheless, she always kept her twice-a-week tea appointments with Rose. She was the happiest of all of them to live in the neighborhood, always able to tell new stories about how she was having fun going to a real school, visiting the others without the barrier of computers, simply having fun.

Three years after the game ended, just after they’d both turned sixteen, Jade was suddenly very quiet. She sat in her chair twiddling her thumbs or toying with the tab of her soda. Instead of telling her own stories, she asked about Rose. She was eager enough to hear about how her classes were going and how she was resoundingly victorious in all scholastic debates. Up until Rose very bluntly said that she had kissed Kanaya the night of her sixteenth birthday, she had regained her bombastic cheer. Then the bombast became nothing more than a bomb that wiped out the smile on her face.

“Jade?” Rose asked. She set her teacup down and sat forward because she could see anxiety like nothing else appearing on Jade’s face. “What in the world is wrong?”

“No, nothing—not anything at all!” She grabbed the soda and took a long sip with her eyes shut.

“You’re aware that you’re more than welcome to tell me anything. What is it?”

A vivid flush slashed across Jade’s cheeks, so bright that even her glasses could not hide it. She bit her lip.

“Jade, _what_?”

“You—you’re just gonna try and analyze me!”

She sat up straighter and frowned. “Jade Harley, I told everyone that I would never do that again, and I told _you_ first. You have a confidante in me, not a doctor. Just tell me what it is?”

“I love you and Kanaya!” Jade spat.

Rose blinked.

“I know you’re gonna think it’s weird because humans don’t do this and they don’t fall in love with more than one person and I’m so jealous of trolls not being upset with being in a relationship with more than one person and I’m so sad now that you and her kissed because that means you really love each other and you won’t ever love me like that and—”

“Stop that!”

Her words stopped dead on her tongue and flew back down her throat so quickly she started hiccuping.

Rose made an attempt to look stern, but the attempt soon faded in favor of her reaching across the table to touch Jade’s hand. “Will you, for a moment, entertain the idea that I’m not going to suddenly condemn you?”

She blubbered, “Bu-but— _but_ —”

“This is a complete surprise, yes, but…Jade, how could you ever think I’d be upset?” She gave her a small smile. “It’s kind of flattering. But I do readily admit that I don’t really understand what you mean. Can you explain?”

For a minute or two, Jade simply cried. When the fit passed, she wiped her face dry with her sleeves and said, “I’m polyamorous.”

Rose blinked. “I understand the basics of the phrase, but not much else.”

“It just means—Rose, I love so many people! I love almost all of our friends a lot! And I love you and Kanaya, too! And—I’m sorry!”

“Why? Are you honestly expecting me to get mad with you saying you love me?”

“I’m not trying to make you break up with Kanaya! And I’m not trying to make her break up with you! Rose, I’d never ever do that, I promise!”

“Jade, don’t put words in my mouth. I didn’t think you would try to do something like that.”

“But—but I wish I could be with the both of you! But then I don’t want to make you do something you don’t want to!”

Rose let out a sigh through her nose, a weary smile on her face. “Jade, I know that. I’m not offended. And I certainly don’t think you’d try to play relationship wrecker if you’re in love with everyone as much as you are.”

Jade sniffled.

“Come here.”

She looked up and saw that Rose had opened her arms. Without thinking, she bolted out of her chair and threw herself into Rose’s hug. She whimpered into her shoulder and held tight.

“Now,” Rose said. “You are well aware of the fact that I dole out hugs to almost no one. Kanaya has gotten ten, which is about eight more than most of our friends. This is the second for you, and the first that hasn’t involved you basically tackling me when we won the game. If that doesn’t tell you how ‘all right’ I am with how you are, I don’t know what will.”

Jade nodded mutely.

“I may not have the same inclination or ability as you to spread my affections so wide, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t do my best to understand yours and be happy for you. And I won’t be angry at the idea of you loving the two of us. It’s fine.”

“Rose?”

“Hmm?”

“Can…I do just one thing?”

“What?”

She lifted her head, eyes aimed down. She bit her lip a moment. “So—so I promise this isn’t me trying to make you love me instead of Kanaya or more than Kanaya or me trying to make you poly too but—” She sucked in a deep breath. “Can I give you just one kiss?”

Silence.

“I promise that’d be it. I won’t ever ask you to do anything you don’t want and I won’t ever bug you again. And I’m not going to just stop being your friend if you say no! I’ll still always come have tea and soda with you and I won’t make it weird! I promise!” Her blush came back as strongly as before. She looked down. “Oh my God, I just realized how bad it was to ask that.”

“Just one.”

Her head snapped up. She saw Rose looking away with a small blush of her own.

“Just one, and I know that you won’t make anything weird after this. I won’t, either.”

Jade caught Rose’s face in her hands, gently turned her back, and leaned in to kiss her.

They sat like that for a long few moments. Jade was the one to pull away, and the blush on her face was paired with a smile that could have cracked the sky. She hugged Rose again when she saw that there was a small smile to match hers.

“Thank you!” she said. “This is why I love you so much!”

Rose chuckled and patted her back. “I’m glad.”

“So is it okay if I kiss Kanaya just once later?”

Her chuckle became a sputter. “If she says yes.”

Jade giggled with glee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, my head canon for Jade is that she's polyamorous.


	3. A first date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Hmm... Maybe Rose and Kanaya's first date? I'm rather curious to see how you would write that.

Rose Lalonde had never really considered going on a date with anyone by the time she was thirteen. Once she’d leapt off her house to catch a cruxite bottle in order to enter Sburb, the thought of dating anyone had flown right out of her head.

And then the world was rebuilt, Kanaya Maryam had been placed as her housemate by the machinations of the endgame, and Rose was the fumbling teenager she never thought she would be.

She belabored the point mentally for weeks and weeks, trying to figure out what it was that counted as a good first date. She tried again to figure out what a good first date for a young gay couple was. She tried one more time to figure out what a good first date for trolls was. Every conflicting thing she heard made for a bust. She still woke up far too early and sat at the kitchen table reciting her lines in her head until Kanaya woke up two hours later.

She would have tried to rise gracefully from her chair upon Kanaya’s appearance but the sight of her padding groggily in, rubbing at her eyes with her hair askew, made her sit there and giggle. Kanaya smiled and pointed out that Rose’s hair was still mussed from sleep, and they both had a moment of laughter.

It was very abruptly said: “Do you want to go out today?”

Kanaya looked at her from where she stood by the toaster.

Rose looked back, eyes a bit wider than her liking out of shock at herself. “I mean—you said that you’re interested in human cinema, and since it’s Saturday I don’t have school to worry about. We could—go…to a movie.”

Kanaya smiled and said, “That sounds wonderful.”

They went to a small theater in the city that specialized in playing older films. Rose had done some research and worked up her courage to coincide with a series of showings of classic vampire films. Neither of them fell prey to the jump scares or the brooding stares of the leads; they giggled quietly into each others’ shoulders and whispered jokes to riff.

When they left the theater, the sun was a few shades short of dusk and Kanaya took Rose’s hand in hers. They walked like that down the sidewalk, chatting about the movies compared to gothic literature, and then human vampire lore compared to rainbow drinker myth. Then they giggled again at how Kanaya proved some traits of the myths while debunking others.

They carried out boxes of Chinese food and sat in a park to have dinner. Rose marveled at how Kanaya adored the spiciest food available off the menu and politely refused the offer of a black pepper for tasting. When they were done, they set the boxes aside and watched people pass by. At the first sight of a couple passing by, Rose slid her hand across the bench in search of Kanaya’s. She was met halfway, and moved a little closer when Kanaya gently tugged. Kanaya kept tugging, and eventually she wound up sitting flush against her. She was able to put her cheek on Kanaya’s shoulder and settled there.

“Why is it that we keep seeing humans walking around with woofbeasts on tethers?” Kanaya asked quietly.

“Dogs need walks,” Rose replied. “Pet care is fairly involved if you’re good at it.”

“What about other ‘pets?’ You said you owned a purrbeast before.”

“Yes, my cat Jaspers.” She paused. “I wish Vodka Mutini had come out of the game with us.”

“Can’t you acquire another purrbeast?”

Rose paused. “Well…I hadn’t actually thought about that.”

After a pause of her own, Kanaya put her arm around Rose’s shoulders. “Perhaps the next time we go out we should get one.”

“Miss Maryam, are you saying you want to enter into the holy union that is pet ownership with me?”

“Given the way you’ve just put it, I have no reason to say ‘no.’ I think it would be fun.” She smiled and turned Rose’s head. “But the purrbeast is not allowed to monopolize your time should I want to do this.”

Rose didn’t have to ask; she knew the answer. It was still fun to start to ask, “Do what?” and be cut off by Kanaya’s kiss.

On their second date, they adopted a kitten and changed his name from “Hardkore” to “Andronicus.” He was content to play with his toys and let them sit kissing on the couch when they all got home.


	4. Completely unsexy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: something with nakedness/sex that's utterly unsexy for any reason 8)

When John finished undressing Karkat, he started laughing. Karkat nearly punched him in the mouth and settled for kicking him hard in the shin. John, just as naked as him, toppled back onto the bed and kept laughing.

“What the fuck are you laughing for, Egbert?” Karkat snapped.

“You—you don’t have any pants on!”

“You don’t have any pants on either, you bulge-sucking ass!”

“Yeah, but you’re blushing and all fidgety and you’re so _cute_!”

His hackles raised immediately, and he sat heavily on the bed next to John with a snarl of, “I am _not_ cute.”

John poked his cheek. “Yeah you are. You’re my little hummingbird.”

“Okay, that still doesn’t make any gog damn sense, and you’re an idiot for saying it all the fucking time. Are we pailing or are we just going to sit here naked and listen to you spew retardation from your windhole?”

“Aw, I’m just trying to get you in _The Mood_!” John said.

“‘The mood’?”

“No, no, no! _The Mood_ , Karkat! It’s a special frame of mind that gets you all ready to make sweet, sweet love!” He gathered Karkat up in his arms, ignoring all protests, and began to rock him back and forth. “You start by holding your little hummingbird—”

“GOG DAMMIT EBGERT I AM NOT A HUMMINGBIRD.”

“Your little hummingbird in your strong arms and whispering sweet nothings in his ear.” John learned close and nuzzled past the shag of Karkat’s hair. “Sweet nothings.”

“THAT DOESN’T FUCKING COUNT AS ANYTHING.”

“Sure it does! It’s sweet nothings!”

Karkat growled, “John, if you keep shoving your fucking prankster gambit into every aspect of your idiotic life, I am going to end this matespritship.”

John giggled. “You say that every day.”

“I fucking mean it this time! Do it again and your ass is on the sidewalk without your stupid pants!”

“You mean you’d keep your pants because it breaks your heart to throw me out, right? You’d need a token of me to get through the night!” He laughed and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “You _are_ my little hummingbird if my pants are the only thing that’ll help those long cold nights!”

Karkat nearly punched him in the mouth again. He settled for shoving John down and shutting his stupid mouth with a kiss full of tongue and teeth. John still laughed. Eventually, Karkat smiled back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because John and Karkat basically exist to fill this sort of prompt.


	5. Once

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: John/Jade, 'I had a crush on you once.'

Rose told him about something called the Westermarck Effect and how it seemed to have gotten fucked over by paradoxes and time and distance. John asked if she’d been talking to Dave lately and she only shrugged.

He tried to push it out of his mind, but there was nothing to be done about how it made him smile in a way that was different from anything else when Jade signed off and left the last line as

<3!!

He sat looking at that heart until he thought his own might break. It was only when his face hurt from smiling and his heart hurt from the newest fracture in it that he closed out the window and went back to the world that wasn’t Jade.


	6. Stargazing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Rose and Kanaya stargazing <3 Idk it's just something I've been thinkin' about lately. I bet it would be a whole different view for Kanaya on Earth. Rose would teach her a bit about them and maybe showing the Virgo constellation and also her own?

Rose never saw Kanaya glowing. For one reason or another, the game had decided to reverse (most of) the damage done. There was no grimdark stain to her skin; Kanaya was not a rainbow drinker.

It made it possible for them to pull a blanket outside, lay on their backs, and look up at the stars without their light being drowned out by a glow. Rose thought it would have been interesting to see her glowing there in the dark. When she turned to rest on her side and study Kanaya’s face, it always took so long for her eyes to adjust. She almost wanted the glow then, but the darkness was worth it when her vision grew accustomed. It was always worth it to see the small wonder on Kanaya’s face at seeing the stars.

“Can you point out the constellations again?” Kanaya would ask quietly.

Rose would acquiesce and move to settle on her back with her shoulder pressed to Kanaya’s. She reached up and found each star sign in turn. For the most part, she followed the order of the hemospectrum she knew. First came Cancer, then Aries, and onward then from Taurus to Pisces. There were two she always left until the end.

“I was born under the Sagittarius sign,” Rose said, “that of the Archer.” She paused. “Though I remain glad to this day that Equius never trolled me during the game.”

Kanaya chuckled. “Most people are. I still don’t quite know how it is that Jade puts up with him and Nepeta at the same time, but I’m glad they’re happy.” She let out a soft breath. “Now where is my sign?”

“The Virgo,” Rose said, “is there.” She pointed to each star in the constellation, tapping her finger in the air to punctuate. “The virgin, often said to be a terrible meddler.”

She poked Rose hard in the chest.

“Ow.” She caught Kanaya’s hand and held it. “But where there’s meddling, there’s caring. Furthermore, she is an eloquent woman, excellent with details and creativity, and well mannered.” She turned to look at Kanaya, smiling. “And I can say that all these traits are present in the source of the sign.”

Kanaya rolled them over to pin Rose beneath her and kissed her breathless.


	7. Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Dolorosa finds little Sufferer

She honestly thought she’d gone deaf, the silence was so pure after the shrieking crash of stone breaking. She was almost relieved when stone dust flurried around her and she could hear the sound of her coughing. The rubble settled almost instantly, though, and the stone dust was little. Her coughing ended quickly, but the silence did not resume.

She heard the most pitiful grub cry she had ever before or ever would. It echoed through the cavern pathways, bouncing and breaking and reverberating until she wanted to press her hands over her ears. She kept her hands down and began to hunt for the sound.

It led her to the source of the breaking stone: a still steaming meteor. She gawked: first at the meteor, then at the stars high above in a sky she’d never seen, and finally at the tiny grub she had not noticed on the meteor. His shell was bright red, almost the same shade as the meteor, and he lay on his back atop the meteor howling at the sky.

She went to the meteor, three fourths buried from the force of its strike, and climbed up. Though it was still hot, it did not burn when she kneeled down. She looked at the grub, eyes wide and aching from the sudden light of the world, and he looked back.

She knew fear for a child then. She had never considered any of the other grubs seen before. Most were vicious and eager to fight, prepared for the trials of the caverns and ripe for being chosen by lusii. The grub lying there continued to cry, even when she looked at him. His tiny legs wiggled in the air, reaching for her, and his crying turned plaintive. It was not fear; it was a search for compassion.

He would never have it from other trolls. He would never have a lusus look at him and choose him with such a strange color for his blood. But he wanted compassion, he wanted to be held, he wanted to be _heard_. It was nothing she’d seen before, and she knew she’d never see it again.

The Dolorosa gathered the grub in her arms and fled without a single glance back.


	8. Swimming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How about something random and cute? Like Rose is teaching Kanaya how to swim?

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid to get in the water.”

Kanaya remained on the dock, sitting with her legs drawn up to her chest and her feet firmly on the wood. She frowned, chin on her knees. She said, “It’s hardly a matter of being afraid when I have no idea how to swim.

“Didn’t you say that the Land of Rays and Frogs was mostly oceanic in nature?”

“Part of my quest involved _lowering_ the water level. I was more than happy to do so.”

Rose sighed through her nose, one brow rising. “So you’ve never once in your life even set foot in a large body of water?”

“No. I still don’t know why I agreed to buying this suit and coming out with you.”

“Probably because some small part of you wanted to see me in _my_ suit, as well as the logical end that finds me in the water.” She kissed Kanaya’s bare shoulder before pushing herself off the dock and into the shallow waters. Turning about, dragging her toes through the silt of the lake, she reached up to lay her hands on Kanaya’s feet. “Come in.”

“I would rather not drown.”

“My passive-aggressiveness doesn’t extend so far as to make people believe I would let them drown as a joke, and you know my intentions with you are generally noble. The water’s warm and I’m willing to play teacher today. Come on.”

“Play teacher?”

“We may never cure you of your fear of large bodies of water, but there’s no reason why I can’t teach you how to swim.”

She pouted, but Rose lifted a brow. With a sigh, she unfolded her legs, moved to the edge of the dock, and eased herself down into the water. True to Rose’s word, it was warm; the silt beneath was cool as her toes slipped into it. They stood thigh-deep for only a moment before Rose took her by the hand and led her out into deeper water.

When she felt the water rise just over her stomach, splashing at the bottom of her breasts with their movement, Kanaya dug in her heels. She took a great step back; Rose followed her with patience in her expression. For a moment, they stood looking at each other. Kanaya still felt a terrible need to run back and clamber back onto the dock, but she held tight to Rose’s hands.

“Lie on your back,” Rose said.

“I have no desire to drown.”

She laughed. “First of all, you’ll float. Second, I wouldn’t let you sink. Come on, just lie back.”

Her lips twisted in a frown, but she eventually bent her knees. She tried to let herself tip back, but one leg automatically swung back to keep her upright. She huffed a sigh.

Rose moved to stand behind her and put her hands carefully on her back. “Try again. I’ll keep your head above water, I swear.”

Her second attempt went far better. With Rose’s hands firm against her, her legs did not try to force her back up. Eventually, she was leaning heavily against Rose, looking up at the blue sky.

“Now raise your hips and lift your feet.”

Kanaya looked at her.

“Just trust me.”

She did with some hesitance. Closing her eyes, she lifted her feet from the silt. A brief moment of terror gripped her as her shoulders started to sink, but Rose held her up. When she calmed, she realized that she was floating, hands paddling carefully at the water without thought. She looked up at Rose.

She smiled at her, taking one hand from beneath her to tap a wet finger to her nose. “I told you it’d be fine.”

“Excuse my youth in the desert influencing how I see large bodies of water.”

“I’ll buy us some sort of floating pool toy for next time.”

Kanaya pouted; Rose kissed it away.


	9. Doomed beauty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: the phrase ~you're beautiful and I love you~ with any two characters, preference for Aradia/Jade.

It was a doomed timeline, and Aradia knew it.

The Witch of Space was not supposed to be bleeding out on the Beat Mesa with the Scratch tearing open the sky.

She landed lightly on the ruined land and went to the girl. She was tiny, curled in a ball of pain and shredded skin. She panted weakly, and her crying was weaker. Her glasses were a few feet away, and Aradia picked them up as she walked over. She kneeled down and touched Jade’s shoulders.

“Here,” she said. She turned Jade’s head to slip the glasses back on her face. When some lucidity came back into her eyes, she smiled at her.

“Um,” Jade whimpered, “you’re…Aradia, right?”

“That’s right. We’ve met in a dream bubble.”

She managed to smile. “You’re still just as pretty as before. I was so surprised to see that you and Kanaya are so pretty.”

Aradia pushed blood-matted hair out of Jade’s face and stroked her cheek with her thumb. “You’re a lovely girl yourself.”

“Did—did I do anything right?”

She looked at her. The Scratch had been started, but not by John. Noir had dragged his body up to Derse’s moon, let him resurrect, and then killed him when he tried to defend Rose and Dave’s sleeping dreamselves. Jade had been the only one left to do it.

Even Bec’s memories could not override the natural panic that an animal had at seeing death coming, and Noir ripped into Jade’s stomach with his teeth, shredded her skin with his claws, threw her down to the Beat Mesa. He ran away, and Aradia came through the gash in space-time he made in his leaving.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Jade’s face fell. She shut her eyes tight and began to cry harder.

Aradia kissed her before she died.

When she went back, she resolved to make sure that, this time, Jade contacted Rose with news of her mother’s death.

She resolved to find her after the Scratch. She had a message: “You’re beautiful, Jade Harley, and I love you and all your bravery.”


	10. Growing up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Oldstuck? :)

When she turned twenty-five, Rose wondered how old her mother had been when Noir had murdered her.

She was a child then; there had been no thought in her mind to consider it. Twelve years later, she wondered. She wondered because she could not find any pictures of her mother; because she was starting to forget her face. She kept her eyes closed for minutes upon minutes at a time in an attempt to conjure up the image.

She tried to think of if there had been wrinkles by her eyes or her mouth. She could not remember much laughter in her mother. She wondered if she ever really did laugh, before or after the meteor had brought her into the past. Rose couldn’t remember the last time she’d tried to make her mother laugh.

She didn’t know if she’d ever tried at all.

There had been some easiness granted to them in winning the game: officials tended to turn blind eyes to their lack of guardians and their vastly expanded savings were never called into question. A neighborhood had been given to them, all sixteen living again, but there were no adults to follow; none to garner advice from.

Her pride had made her skin ashen-black; it kept her from asking for help from anyone more than a year younger or older than herself. She sought only the counsel of her friends and Kanaya, and they excelled in their chosen fields of study.

She wondered if her mother had any doubts about what she would do later in life; if she had known from the paradoxical beginning what she would become. There must have been some sort of great certainty in her life: Rose had never seen her lacking in confidence. But she was starting to forget how her childhood had gone, so there was no telling if she remembered anything about her mother clearly.

If there was one thing at all Rose held in common with other children, it was in the belief that an adult instantly knew what they would do in their life. Surely her mother had known that she would be a mother; that she would find Rose in a strange crater with a strange and filthy stuffed bunny. How else would she have known to find her? It had to be an adult _thing_ , to know what would happen in the future.

By the time she graduated high school, she had spent a cumulative week awake trying to decide what college to and how best to go about completing five potential majors. Kanaya brought her coffee and stroked her hair when she gave up for the night and slumped across Kanaya’s lap on the couch. She made her choice and went into psychiatry and came home after classes to help critique Kanaya’s fashion designs. She went out on double dates with John and Vriska. She went to the weekly movie nights held at Karkat’s house and had fun.

At twenty-five, Rose wondered how old her mother had been when she died. She wondered if her mother had any doubts when she drew up. She wondered if her mother would have been proud of her as she worked at getting her own Ph.D and managed to have fun at the same time.

She missed her mother. She admitted this Kanaya only on dark nights when they were curled up on the couch reading old favorite books.

And she hoped she would be older than her mother when _she_ died, someday.


	11. Fancy dates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Dunno if this is your thing, but I'd love to see Jade paired with EquiusNepeta! I know you've written her with Kanaya and Rose so it's cool if you don't feel inspired by this or something. :) For prompt I was thinking something sweet and fluffy, like they take her to a fancy restaurant or vice versa.

Nepeta had never seen Equius more flustered than when he asked Jade to go out with them to dinner one night. She giggled at that, and again when Jade happily agreed.

She had stopped when Equius made her put away her trenchcoat and kitty-hat and don a fancy dress. True, Kanaya had made it and it was perfectly comfortable and very nice, but she wasn’t a fan of wearing dresses. She was a fan of _seeing_ dresses on pretty girls, and it was thanks to the rippling, shimmering gown of green-shining black that Nepeta behaved herself and didn’t pick at her own blue dress’s hem when they sat down.

Despite Equius’ strong protests, Jade had stated simply that she would foot the bill and that they should order anything they wanted. Nepeta asked for three very rare steaks and one large side of salmon; Equius requested four well done steaks and two baked potatoes; and Jade had a small medium done steak. Nepeta did her best to not eat with her hands, but had to be reminded once or twice. Equius had gained enough control over his strength in the last year to not shatter the plate and the table when he skewered his food, but forewent trying to cut anything with his knife; his fangs were more than enough to get the mouthfuls he wanted.

Though Equius had suggested going to some kind of play after dinner, Nepeta said she was tired. While it wasn’t exactly a lie, it was mostly out of her desire to get out of that dress and back into her pants and jacket. Jade smiled and said they could make up their own play if they went back to Nepeta and Equius’ house for some roleplaying.

Later, when she kissed them both goodnight, she told Equius they didn’t have to do all those things that were listed in the books about human dating Nepeta’d left out on their coffee table. He smiled nervously, and chuckled when Nepeta cheered aloud and flung herself at Jade for another kiss.


	12. Hateful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: I'd love a ficlet of Kanaya finding a (female) kismesis. It can be AU if necessary! Cannon Kanaya seems to get along with everyone, unless they go on a murder spree, and that has lead to a sad shortage of fics where she fills this quadrant. Thanks!

Vriska never should have threatened Rose in any way, even jokingly.

She shouldn’t have done it when Rose was clearly overwhelmed by the trolls appearing in their session and spiriting them away from an attack by Noir. She had laughed at Rose and made her out to be a weakling constantly surpassed by her own godly, dumb-boy ward. She had laughed and taunted—and then she pushed Rose as though they were children of three sweeps.

Kanaya punched her so hard she split her knuckles on Vriska’s fangs. She was pleased to see that she chipped the point off one of her fangs in the process. It was such a pleasure to see that she went to Vriska, hauled her back onto her feet, and punched her again.

In a showing of cultural sensitivity, she waited until she and Vriska were alone before grabbing the front of her shirt and kissing her hard enough to draw blood.


	13. A childhood dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: oh hahaha sirry for solly facetiousness, i was asking, can you write something about carapace!kids? although honestly what does that even mean, carapaced canonkids or humanized canon-exiles, ambiguity tastes like applesauce

She knew, even before she’d gotten her first title, that she wanted to carry knowledge to and fro. She wanted to spread intelligence, down to the smallest of notes between friends.

She respected and adored the Parcel Masters and Mistresses, wanted to one day join them in their quests. She grew up with stars in her eyes and a handmade letter bag on her back. She became a Parcel Mistress in her own right, and was counted on for every kind of delivery imaginable.

She was happy.

And then the green box came and she wasn’t anymore.


	14. On felines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Rose + Nepeta - Cats

It was tiresome to pick through the RP nonsense and the puns, but it was nice enough to talk to someone that had an inkling as to why she missed Jaspers enough to end the world.

Nepeta never once questioned her desire to bring back her cat. She sympathized enough to drop her RP tendencies for a while and just talk. She spoke of her lusus and how badly she missed him despite the prototyping. She promised Rose she would have listened if she wanted to talk about Jaspers.

Rose never did talk about him, but she did give Jaspersprite her laptop in the end. She hoped he and Nepeta had a good talk before the end.


	15. Mermaids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Ugh, don't know if the first one went through. How about a little Jade/Feferi romance? Despite the skin color and the horns, Jade has always thought of her as a mermaid. Still a pretty one.

Bec rarely let her go into the deeper water around the island when she was little, no matter how she tried. She sought out pictures online of the deep and the dark. She read scientific stories of the sea’s history, and when she got bored with that she wandered over to fairy tales about mermaids.

The first things she noticed when she met Feferi in the dream bubbles were her fins and gills. She all but danced at meeting a real life mermaid, even though she knew she wasn’t really. Feferi liked to laugh and made silly fish jokes; Jade decided that was how mermaids acted all the time, no matter what planet they came from.

Feferi let her swim in the deep waters with her. Dream bubble as it was, she never needed to breathe during their ventures into the dark. Feferi made a bright glowing necklace appear amidst her normal couture to help Jade see through the black water, and laughed again and again at Jade’s excitement at seeing the vast range of Alternian sea life. She, in turn, was greatly fascinated at Earth sea life, and hugged Jade repeatedly for showing her, as she said, such pretty things.

When they came back ashore on Jade’s island, they giggled and sat in the warm, damp sand. Jade kissed her and blushed. Feferi never blushed, but kissed her back many times over.


	16. Just

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Could you do a little something with either scourge sister piratey justice shenanigans or some john/vriska post sburb or in dreambubble fluff? that would be wonderful :)

Then, she had to tell herself over and over that it was justice to stab clean through the center of Vriska’s chest.

Before, she had to tell herself over and over that it was justice to level the gavel at other children and condemn them to a death that drained them of blood and flesh—and even pain, in the end.

She knew nothing of consistency. No matter what she claimed otherwise, she was wrong and Vriska was right. Justice, despite all her yearning, was not a constant. It fluctuated rapidly from day to day: a slight yesterday meant nothing in the face of the crimes of today, but then the grudge of half a sweep before meant the world must crash down around the criminal’s horns.

At least as a Scourge Sister, justice was fun. It was fun to roam with a makeshift gamblignant acting as her executioner and standing by her judgments. It was fun to go home at the end of the night and relive their conquests. It was even fun to relish in retrospect the pleading of their prisoners on bended knees.

But then Vriska tried to bring justice to bear on their friends, and it stopped being justice. It wasn’t fun. It made her want to pull every fang out of Vriska’s mouth in retaliation—because it would have been most just.

And if she was honest with herself, she didn’t really want to do that to Vriska.

Terezi wasn’t honest with herself until Vriska was justly dead.


	17. Prankster's Gambit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: After seeing her with Rose and Kanaya, and Equis and Nepeta... I just have to ask for our intrepid Nomad to visit John and Vriska. Perhaps it involves a Prankster's Gambit?

The gag was supposed to end with Jade walking into the room and getting a bucket on her head from its precarious place atop the door. It was the simplest joke John had in his repertoire, but the stammering Vriska let out upon learning what he planned was utterly perfect. He had her hold the door open while he balanced the bucket, half full of water, atop it. Giggling, he bustled her to Jade’s closet. Before joining her inside, he shouted for Jade to come to her room.

The gag didn’t work because Vriska dived from the closet. She was half a second too late, though, and took the splash of the water as she tackled Jade out of the way. Jade shrieked with surprise; Vriska shrieked with the cold of the water.

“What the hell?”

“John, this prank sucks shame globes!”

“What the— _Vriska_? What’re you—is John with—get this off my _head_!”

Vriska’s face turned vivid blue, and it only grew worse when she reached out and took the bucket in hand. Gingerly, she worked it off of Jade’s head; she threw it down the hall and ignored the clatter it made.

Jade coughed as she sat up, pulling off her glasses as she went. She rubbed at her face with her arms and blinked repeatedly when she brought her arms away. She tried to dry her glasses, but Vriska plucked them from her hands. Squinting, she watched Vriska rub the lenses dry with her own shirt.

“Here,” Vriska muttered. She shoved the glasses back onto Jade’s face. “This was a stupid gambit.”

A moment passed before Jade sputtered with giggles and started to laugh. “Oh my God! Vriska—Vriska, you are blushing _so_ bad! You’re _adorable_ when you blush!”

The blush darkened. “Shut up!”

“John, back me up here! She totally looks cute when she blushes!”

He chuckled, hands on his hips. “She’s got you there, Vriska. You’re really cute when you blush.”

“Oh, fuck this!” Vriska snapped. “Harley, I don’t give a shit about what you think about me!”

“Sure you do!” Jade said. “You tried to keep a bucket from falling on my head! That’s pretty important, right? And you’re the one who always kisses me and John first!” When Vriska refused to look at her, she continued to giggle. She stood up, but bent down to press a kiss to Vriska’s cheek. “But you’re cutest when you’re not trying to do the huge bitch thing.”

“Go to hell.”

“Nope! I’ll just go get us some towels!” She paused; she smiled. “I’ll get a few extra ones for later, too.”

Vriska tried to scowl after her as she went, but it was impossible to keep down the smile. It didn’t help when John crouched down to tickle her, and it helped even less when Jade came back to help.


	18. Devil-beast Sitting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: In an AU where she is not stranded on an island in the Pacific, Jade asks Dave to dog-sit Bec. It goes about as well as you would expect.

“Fuck you, devil-beast.”

Bec regarded him with a faint tilt to his head. Dave stared back from his place on the couch, arms and legs crossed rather moodily. There was a small tear in the hem of one leg of his jeans, and the torn fabric lay between Bec’s forepaws.

“A girl asks her boyfriend to dog-sit her devil-beast when she goes out of town on a fuckin’ week-long physics study binge, and what do I get? I do my normal thing as her boyfriend and try to get into her room while she’s gone, and the devil-beast up and tries to tear my leg off. Fuck you.”

Bec made a low thrum that was not quite a growl, and his eyes narrowed.

“Man, it’s not like I was gonna raid her panty-drawer or some stupid shit like that. Yeah, I’d look in the damn thing to see what kind of stuff I have to look forward to on our sickest date night, but I’m not gonna perv out on her and steal her panties so I can sniff ‘em and secretly jack off to the smell of her.”

The thrum became a proper growl.

“ _Christ_ , devil-beast, chill out. I’m saying that’s _not_ what I’d do.” He shrugged slightly. “I’d only go sniff her pillow to see if it still smells like her after three days of her being gone.”

The growl ceased. Bec wagged his tail tentatively.

Dave smirked. “Then I’d write her the filthiest fuckin’ love rap ballad you’ve ever seen in your life and hide it in her panty-drawer.”

Bec stopped wagging, chuffed out an angry snort, and went to go sleep in front of Jade’s bedroom door.


	19. Snowball Fights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Rose being silly. Why? Because sometimes you just have to forget all of your troubles for five minutes and act like you're six years old... Also, because it's fun to do.

Kanaya was introduced to snow and snowballs in the same minute, and it was all thanks to Rose.

They had woken up to find the ground and trees painted over with white; Kanaya asked if the world was ending. Rose’s response of the world still being safe had come paired with a smile she was visibly trying to restrain, and she bundled Kanaya into clothes designed for a season she had never experienced before hurrying them both outside.

Kanaya stood on the path from the door and stared up into the gray sky. She flinched at the touches of snowflakes against her skin, and turned to Rose to speak.

A snowball exploded on her face. She reeled back, gasping with the cold before wiping at her cheeks with her knit mittens. When she could see again, she found Rose standing by with her hands over her mouth. She could still hear the giggling slipping by her gloved hands.

She demanded a lesson on making snow weapons, but Rose still managed to win their epic snowball fight. She kept laughing well after they had gone inside, gotten dry, and wrapped themselves in a blanket in front of the TV to warm up. When she drifted off to sleep with her head in Kanaya’s lap, she was still smiling.


	20. Kites on a beach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Kanaya and Rose are on Earth, on the beach. Rose is under sun umbrella, reading a book, while Kanaya is trying to act all classy and adult and shit, but failing. Curiosity wins and she starts running around like little kid, picking bugs, plants, little animals and such.

It was the kite that was the last straw.

Kanaya had sat very quietly with Rose under their umbrella, soaking up the warmth radiating from the sun stained sand. She watched children, teens, and adults running into the water and laughing and shrieking as the waves rolled in. She was still uncertain of her swimming skills, and so she stayed where she was with her toes extended just past the shadow of the umbrella.

The sand castles intrigued her. It called up all her earliest memories, of those days spent designing her hive and refining it. There was absolutely no skill presented by any of the tiny architects she watched, but she remembered smiling with as much pride as they displayed before her then. She wanted to give a smattering of applause for each successful tower she saw.

But it was the kite in the end. Rose had reacted little to the windy day beyond the occasional sigh when a page was flipped before its time, but Kanaya watched the kite avidly. She had spotted a little girl with her father just before they let the kite catch the wind, and her eyes widened when it was swept up and away. The child gasped in wonder at each gust of wind that made the string in her hands vibrate, and Kanaya smiled at the twisting rise and fall of it.

“We’ll get you one for next time,” Rose said mildly. She was smiling when Kanaya looked at her, and for that she received a thorough kiss.


	21. Alike, more and less

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Rose/Jade, 'Not who I thought I was'

“I always thought I was so much better than my mother,” Rose muttered weakly.

Jade rubbed her back gently. She kept the hair out of Rose’s face when she vomited again. She said nothing about how overwhelming the stench of alcohol was from so close.

Rose slumped against the side of the bathtub, face turned away. She made a sound indistinguishable from laughter and weeping and reached back to hold tight to Jade’s skirt. “Oh, God, I am so much _worse_.”


	22. Spades

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Karkat<3

“You are a dreadfully pathetic and contemptible creature, Vantas.” She popped off the first button of his shirt with a flick of a Thorn. “Disgustingly idiotic, always destined to destroy the chances of the teams you lead.” She popped another. “Always fated to misery.” Another. “My God, your misery is delicious.”

At the fourth button, he sneered and caught her by the wrists. He pinned her to a wall, pushing his thigh hard between her legs. “Like you’re any fucking better, Lalonde. I don’t know what anyone even _sees_ in you. It’s a fucking miracle anyone’s pale or flushed for you in the first place.”

She chuckled. “I’d say it’s a better miracle I don’t need anyone waxing ashen for me. I don’t think I could hate anyone more than you.” She tipped her head in and caught his lower lip in her teeth. She tugged hard and savored the snarled curse that fell against her mouth. “You are a disgusting mound of non-existent self esteem combined with a mountain of self-loathing.”

“You’re a fucking cancer that ruins everything,” he replied. “I’m not surprised when Kanaya tells me how fucked up you and your lusus were.”

She scowled, reached up, and yanked at his horns hard enough for him to yelp. “Low blow, Vantas.”

He laughed and twisted out of her grasp. He brought his head in and bit down on her shoulder. The yelp of pain made him moan and rock his leg against her, and he lapped at the broken skin to make her snarl at the sting. “You get my lowest blows, you fucking witch-bitch.”

She twisted her hand to cast a spell of force on him. He was pitched backward hard enough to crash against his recuperacoon, and a small splatter of slime spilled from the rocking. He hadn’t the time to recover before she was there, shoving him backward to pitch them both into the sopor.

“Fuck you, Karkat,” she hissed. “Fuck every last thing about you.”

He smiled with a sneer. “I think you’re on the road to doing that, Rose.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There may or may not be a continuation of this drabble in the future.


	23. Voice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Rose discovers Kanaya has a beautiful singing voice. It quickly becomes apparent that Kanaya is less than comfortable with sharing this fact with others.

Rose practiced playing her violin daily, seeking new songs to play and refining old classics. Kanaya liked to listen to her practice sessions, and Rose liked to play for her.

It was abrupt. Rose was playing by heart a favorite tune of Kanaya’s, standing with her eyes closed and her fingers warm on the strings. She heard a sound beyond the strings and opened her eyes. Kanaya sat in her chair, eyes closed just as Rose’s had been moments ago. Her mouth was open, and music purer than anything Rose had heard recorded or played flowed from her lips. It followed the violin and strengthened everything it had, as though it was a pair of gentle crystal hands stroking the cleanest notes.

Rose stopped playing. She was certain she stopped breathing.

Kanaya stopped seconds after that, eyes popping open. She sat with befuddlement on her face a moment before looking at Rose. Mortification made her cheeks turn jade, and she ducked her head down.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “It was just such a lovely song—I had to sing a little bit, but I’m sorry. I’ll stop now.”

“Why would you ever stop singing?” Rose asked.

Kanaya gestured incoherently.

“Is singing something trolls don’t do?”

“My voice is terrible—”

“Kanaya, I have never heard a worse lie in my life.”

“It is for trolls.” She touched her throat. “Mine is a weaker voice than most trolls. Our singing is not soft.”

“You don’t like how you sing?”

The flush grew darker. “It’s not that I don’t. I like _to_ sing—I’ve just been told repeatedly that it’s absolutely terrible.”

“It’s not to me,” Rose said. She gathered her wits properly and smiled, almost shyly. “Will you sing for me?”

Kanaya’s smile was tiny, anxious, and eager all at once. “If it’s for you…I think I can.”


	24. Fireflies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: RoseKan obvs ahah, hmm how about a trip to the woods and it gets dark too soon and there are FIREFLIES EVERYWHERE *u*

Kanaya’s eyes didn’t glow in the dark. Rose discovered that troll eyes were similar to many other nocturnal hunters: a faint reflective layer coated the back of the eye, and it let the light shine visibly back at the right angle. It was catlike, and Rose found it charming.

When they went out late that summer’s night to stargaze, Rose meant to catch each flash of reflected light surreptitiously.

She didn’t expect the fireflies.

The first that floated by, light wafting in and out of its body like a candle in the breeze, made Kanaya jump where she lay. She blinked repeatedly, and when the next two fireflies went by, Rose was able to see the tiny, heartbeat brief flashes of light reflected in her eyes. She watched as her pupils widened to take in the glow, as her eyes opened as much as they could.

“Rose?” Kanaya murmured.

“Hmm?”

“I’ve never seen insects like this before.”

“Fireflies are one of a very few insects that I slightly enjoy.” She sat up slightly, leaning over to stroke Kanaya’s hair. “I’m happy they’re around right now.”

Kanaya smiled. “They make lovely counterparts to the stars.”

“I can see them in your eyes better.”

Chuckling, Kanaya pulled her down and kissed her.


	25. Squiddles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: I'm thinking a good crack prompt would be interesting. Howsabout some cute Dave/Jade, maybe something to do with squiddles?

Dave did not like the Squiddles cartoons. He did not like the comics, the movies, or the merchandise. He was simply not a fan.

However, Squiddles meant a few things. It was something that transferred over perfectly untouched to their victory-restored world, and those were so few and far between that he clung to those without a scrap of irony. It was childish in a comforting way and, after thousands of deaths in the game, he was content with being comforted like a child.

But it was because Squiddles made Jade pull him over to the couch with a massive smile with the DVDs in her hot little hands that he put up with the shmaltz and the silliness. Anything that had him ending the day with Jade Harley curled up with him on the couch was automatically a Good Thing In Life.


	26. Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Post [S] Attempt rare and highly dangerous 5x SHOWDOWN COMBO dialog between Gamzee and Kanaya, from Kanaya’s point of view. Or maybe, at least her thoughts on what happened between Karkat and Gamzee.

Kanaya trusted Karkat. She had trusted him through the entirety of the game, and through the entirety of her natural life. She did her best to guide him to a good decision, but she always trusted him to make the decision that worked for everyone.

She did not trust Gamzee. She had never really trusted Gamzee in the first place. She disliked the idea of trusting anyone who threw stinging powder into their eyes to pray to gods that didn’t exist, not to mention anyone who consumed sopor slime for fun. When it came to the game, she let Karkat make the calls about Gamzee and left him alone.

She was prepared to come between them with her chainsaw. She had planned on it, knowing full well that a kick like that would never bring Gamzee down.

When Karkat touched her face, it boggled her. When he shushed her and made her step aside to let him go to Gamzee, she was dumbfounded. But she let him go.

Kanaya trusted Karkat, and so she let him go.


End file.
